


Ribbon

by Fishpaste



Series: Guns and Roses [2]
Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Bad guys only, F/F, Strangulation, death mentions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-20 22:36:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21289292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fishpaste/pseuds/Fishpaste
Summary: Mey Rin is a sweet clumsy maid who blushes and drops things when she gets flustered. Mey Rin is a ruthless assassin, the best in the world who kills to protect her family. Grell Sutcliff is about to discover a side of Mey Rin she never knew before. And perhaps Mey Rin is about to discover a side of Grell Sutcliff she hadn't expected either...
Relationships: Mey-Rin/Grell Sutcliff
Series: Guns and Roses [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1530824
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	Ribbon

This was absolutely the last thing they needed right now! Mey Rin raced down the corridors, glasses pushed up onto her forehead as she scanned the area for the signs of any possible threat. The young Master wasn’t even here! He was down in London with Sebastian, leaving her, Bardroy, Finny and Tanaka to protect the mansion. 

They hadn’t been expecting trouble, but Finny had raised the alarm in the garden, always the first to spot trouble, and the servants had moved like a well oiled machine, Mey Rin up to the roof where her rifles were, Bard to the main hall to coordinate their attacks, Tanaka to the back area, where he could raise an alarm if they tried to break in there, he could fight, but it exhausted him so Bard tried his best to keep him away from the worst of the fighting, and Finny stayed out in the courtyard area, ready to be their front line of defense. But the men had come from the side unexpectedly and now Mey Rin was racing through the halls to reach her other stash of weapons so she could actually provide effective cover as Bard and Finny converged on the intruders.

She rounded a corner, speeding up as the first gunshots began echoing around the nearby area and slammed straight into another figure. She was moving so fast she nearly bounced backwards and fell over, but the figure grabbed her arm before she could actually fall and she recognised them with a fresh jolt of worry. She’d completely forgotten Grell was here, the butler was supposed to be learning how to be an effective servant, but so far she seemed to be more drifting dreamily after Sebastian and accidently breaking the tea sets. Oh, and kissing Mey Rin with a skill that absolutely took her breath away and was the greatest thing Mey Rin thought she’d ever experienced, but it was probably not an overly useful skill right now.

“Grell!” She exclaimed, righting herself and taking the taller woman’s arm, pulling her along as she restarted her run down the corridor, worry hitting her hard in the chest. Grell was a liability here, she could get hurt! It wasn’t as though she had any experience of the battlefield or death and pain! She could so easily get hurt just from being in the wrong place, she didn’t know what was going on, she didn’t know how to protect herself. The safest place was probably with Mey Rin…away from the direct fighting and where Mey Rin could protect her if she needed to.

Grell let out a gasp, but followed Mey Rin swiftly enough, not asking any questions, seeming to recognise that this situation was serious, and that the maid needed to concentrate as they clattered up the staircase towards the roof where the guns were set out neatly.

And that was the other worry too…the guns. Mey Rin was about to reveal to Grell that she wasn’t just a simple, sweet maid who loved romance novels and her job, but a cold hearted killer who could shoot men from almost a mile away with pin point precision. She just knew that this would break off the wonderful, fantastic relationship that the two of them were building, Grell would be terrified of her, disgusted by her, she’d call her a monster and a killer and want nothing more to do with her. But…she’d be safe here. Mey Rin would sacrifice their relationship to keep Grell alive and safe, she wasn’t that selfish. She would look after the woman she loved.

“Stay here, don’t move.” She said brusquely, pushing Grell down by the doorway, where she wouldn’t be in any danger of a stray bullet catching her. The butler obeyed willingly, eyes wide as she crouched down against the wall and Mey Rin briefly wondered if she should give her a weapon, but the risk of the butler accidently shooting either herself or Mey Rin seemed slightly too likely; so instead Mey Rin forced the terrified looking woman from her thoughts, and the cold sick feeling as she contemplated losing her trust and love and lifted a rifle, sighting down it and seeking out the attackers running through the woods. Her mind slipped into the usual calm she always felt when she focussed like this, there was just her, the gun and the target. She was protecting her home and her Master, she was doing her duty and she would _not_ fail!

The gun cracked in her hands, one of the men falling in a haphazard heap of limbs and Mey Rin moved automatically, snatching up the next rifle, aiming, shooting, not even waiting for the body to fall before she was taking up the next gun and aiming once more.

Time had no meaning while she was like this, there was only the work. But there were just so many of them this time, she knew that there were people getting through her defence, she could hear the smashing of statues as Finny fought, and the screaming as the attackers met Bard and his trusty flamethrower, Tanaka was probably hovering around somewhere, katana and gun in hand, doing his bit to pick off the stragglers, she had to trust they would do their work. She sighted down the rifle, scanning for her next target, and saw Finny busy hefting a statue towards a small group of men making a break for it across the driveway, and the gunman behind him, coldly raising the weapon up to the back of Finny’s unprotected head. Her heart twisted inside her and she swung her gun around, determined to protect the boy she’d thought of as a younger brother ever since she met him.

Even as she swung the gun around to protect Finny though, she heard footsteps on the stairs behind her, and the door crashing open. It seemed as though the men had realised where the covering fire was coming from and had managed to break through the others in order to put a stop to it. Mey Rin knew in that instant she had two choices, she could shoot the man bursting through the door to kill her, or she could kill the man about to shoot Finny. Her or Finny. The choice was obvious. She stayed exactly where she was, finger tightening on the trigger as she prepared to save the young gardener and expecting to feel a bullet ripping into her body any moment.

Her gun barked and jumped in her hands, the threat to Finny falling into a boneless heap and Mey Rin spun around, surprised she wasn’t already dead. There had been time to shoot her, she knew it. She should be dead, why wasn’t she?

Her eyes met a sight she would never, not in a million years, have expected to see. Grell, the hopeless, hapless, clumsy butler who panicked if anyone sent her so much as a disapproving look was standing behind the intruder, eyes as hard and cold as Mey Rin had ever seen them, pose strong and confident. She’d pulled off the ribbon that she wore around her neck, and the red and white striped fabric was wrapped tightly around the man’s neck, throttling him with ruthless efficiency. The ribbon was taut and stretched and the man’s panicked reddening face, bulging eyes and scrabbling hands at his neck spoke as to the skill and strength applied to the makeshift noose. He fell limp and Grell released him, pulling the ribbon back into her hands as she turned back to the door, clearly prepared to defend Mey Rin against any more attackers while she worked. Almost numb with shock Mey Rin turned back to her own defences, the manor was still under attack, there would be an opportunity to reel and process what she’d just seen later, right now she needed to focus.

But her mind almost seemed stuck on the same image, Grell’s long hands, capable and sure as they throttled a man to protect her, the timid, helpless young butler, transforming into a cold, ruthless attacker in a heartbeat. The unexpected power and grace as she’d moved to protect her. Mey Rin spared a glance at the fallen body. He wasn’t dead, she hadn’t killed him, but he would undoubtedly be out of commission for a while, judging by the deep bruising around his neck. Her gun cracked again, figures falling to the ground, but Mey Rin almost wasn’t paying attention; who knew that Grell had that in her and…her stomach swooped a little, how could it possibly have looked so attractive? The sight of Grell, an implacable queen of death standing above the body of her attacker, it shouldn’t be making Mey Rin feel flushed and hot and bothered, right? So why was her heartbeat thudding loudly in her ears, and her stomach filled with butterflies every time she pictured how bright and determined Grell’s eyes had been, the tautness of her body as she’d leaned back, cutting off the attacker’s air supply, the sharp smile as he’d fallen to the floor and Grell had regained her unusual weapon and immediately turned to continue her defence…Mey Rin swallowed and forced her mind back to her sniper’s position.

The attackers gave up soon after and all that was left was the clean up, Bard staring ruefully at the crater’s he’d blown in the driveway while Finny began dragging bodies into the woods to dig another mass grave, Tanaka sorting out food while Mey Rin restocked the weapons supplies and searched the manor for anyone who might have concealed themselves there during the fight. As she mounted the staircase again with her apron pocket full of bullets to begin reloading all of her rifles again, she noticed a familiar striped ribbon abandoned on the floor. She lifted it, tucking it away in her sleeve and, once she’d finished reloading and checking all her guns, she set off to find her lover. She needed to thank her after all anyway, she could return the ribbon at the same time.

She found Grell busy sweeping up some broken glass, watching something out the window with a strange expression on her face. Mey Rin looked too, but she couldn’t see anything there, just a few of the dead bodies lying in neat rows. Surely Grell wasn’t put off by those was she? Not after she’d helped put one there, even if she hadn’t killed him; Mey Rin had once the fighting was over, they couldn’t allow a single escaping survivor to take the secrets of Phantomhive manor away so that others could use them against the household.

“Grell?”

“Oh! Mey Rin!” Grell turned and gave her a slightly wobbly smile and Mey Rin re-evaluated her previous thoughts, perhaps she was bothered by it, after all, fighting in the heat of the moment to protect someone you cared about was one thing, living with it afterwards was another. So instead of gushing about how amazingly well Grell had done, and how impressed she was with it, Mey Rin simply stepped across the space separating them and pulled Grell into a hug, trying to be as reassuring and warm as she possibly could. After a heartbeat’s hesitation, Grell hugged her back, tight and fierce and perfect.

“I got you Grell…you’re safe now.”

“It wasn’t my safety I was worried about.” Grell admitted, and Mey Rin felt a rush of warm happiness, it always took her off guard when Grell revealed how much she valued her, that Mey Rin was important to her.

“We’re all safe. You protected me. Thank you.” She said simply.

“I would always protect you.”

“Oh!” Mey Rin said, blushing even more deeply and burying her face in Grell’s chest, how could the other manage to be so sweet and lovely all the time, it was a crime, it really was! “I…brought your ribbon back?” She said, pulling back a little and holding up the strip of fabric. Now that she looked at it though, she could see where the material had been stretched and creased, a slight bloodstain on one corner. Grell frowned at it, before giving a rueful smile.

“I think it’s rather ruined now, but it fell to a good cause…I’ve got another in my things, but thank you Mey Rin.” She said, just as the sound of the carriage pulling up warned them that Sebastian and Ciel were returning and they both turned away, Grell to continue tidying, Mey Rin to the front to greet the Master and Sebastian and help explain what had happened this time. As she hurried across the hallways though she tucked the ribbon back into her pocket, if Grell didn’t want it, then she certainly did, to remind her of the time Grell had transformed into a beautiful deadly fighter just to save Mey Rin.

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally written for Sapphic Sutcliff week on tumblr. I decided now was a good time to polish it up a bit and publish.
> 
> Come hang out with me on Tumblr if you ever want to chat about Black Butler!
> 
> Red-Butler


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